


It´s Lance

by clementimeidk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Car Accidents, Drowning, Hospitals, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-09-15 04:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16926327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clementimeidk/pseuds/clementimeidk
Summary: Lance and Keith work as EMTs, but what happens if one of them is the one needed saving?





	1. Altea Bridge

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first AU, so don´t be too harsh when it sucks

¨Lance, I know something's wrong, you can't hide anything from me.¨ 

Keith said, trying to coax the truth out of his boyfriend. He had seemed so off at their date night, and it was only made worse by an emergency call they were both called in to respond to.

¨Keith, it's nothing, I´m fine¨

Lance said softly. His voice wavered, and Keith could tell he was lying. 

¨Lance, you can't not tell me if something is wrong, we've been together for 3 years, I need to know these things¨ 

Keith said, halfly distracted by Pidge waving her hands to get his attention.

¨ You don't need to know every little thing about me, Keith. I don't have to tell you anything. Nothing is wrong, can't you just leave me be?¨Lance said just as quiet. He should have sounded mad, but he didn't.

It was so unlike Lance to not fill his words with emotion. He just seemed so deflated. Out of the side of his vision he could see Pidge stomping over to him, clearly not happy about him ignoring them. 

¨keith, we need you to hurry up your phone call, a call came in five minutes ago that you missed and Doctor Shirogane wanted to talk to you.¨ 

Pidge said annoyed.She gave him that look that she alway did, the knowing look. In this instance, she knew just how much trouble he was in.

Other times it was that she knew exactly how to diagnose a patient, or how to do a perfectly executed nerve damage repair operation.Her intuition struck again when she figured out that Keith had a crush on her best friend Lance. 

¨Ok Pidge, I'll head over right now. Just give me a minute.¨

He said pleadingly.

¨Fine, go dig that grave buddy¨ 

she responded before bounding off.

¨Lance you still there?¨

he asked turning back to his phone.

¨yeah, I'm just on my way to work, today I ¨

Lance was cut off by a loud crunch and then a splash . 

¨Lance, what was that ?¨ 

he asked. No response.

¨Lance !?!¨

he yelled into the phone.The only response was the sound of the phone sinking in water and hitting the dashboard.The panic in Keith´s voice grew

¨LANCE¨

he asked one more time. Right on cue, Hunk ran in to the EMT station.

¨A car got driven off the Altea Bridge, Keith we need you to head out immediately with us.Coran just called out sick with the Slipperies and we are short a person ¨

Hunk said. And then he realized. 

¨It's Lance¨

*****************************  
Keith took off in a sprint towards Hunk´s assigned ambulance. Being higher up the system meant that keith had the keys to the ambulances so he didn't need hunk to starts prepping.

At least five had been dispatched to the emergency that keith was supposed to have gone to, so Keith ran to the ones in the back of the hanger. By the time they were packed, Hunk was already in the driver's seat next to Keith.

Hunk started the engine and sped off. Hunk was one of the best drivers for one reason.His carsickness. Now one might think that this would prevent somebody from getting to the scene in a timely manner, but with Hunk, it taught him how to drive while keeping the injured in the back stable enough to be worked on. 

In many cases, Hunk´s driving had been the difference between life and death. And right now, keith needed that luck more than ever if he was going to get to Lance in time.

He counted the seconds that lance had been underwater for, anxiety trying to throw him off. But he would not be distracted, not when lance´s life hung in the balance.

Finally the vehicle screeched to a halt was Keith threw himself out the door. He looked down in terror at the bubbles forming at the top of the water. He could still see lance´s car floating down. 6 minutes and 43 seconds, that's how long he had been down there.

Keith dove into the water without a second thought. The water chilled him to his bones, tensing up his muscles, but he kept swimming down. Every kick filled with pure terror and a overarching need to see lance alive and well.

The bubbles had stopped rising up from the car as he could now see the details of a license plate. He might already be too late, he might have already lost him. 

What if that phone call had been the reason that Lance had gotten here in the first place.

What if this was all his fault. If Lance died, he would never forgive himself. He would never love anyone they way he loved Lance.

Keith was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw Lance´s face. His eyes were squinted weakly, looking at the water like it was the most interesting thing ever. Though Keith was sure that was not what he had been contemplating. 

His skin was dulled down to a light, grayish tan, hanging loosely on his jaw. His mouth was parted slightly, water seeping in freely. 

Keith unstrapped his seatbelt and flung open the door, ripping it off the hinges. He pushed off with his legs, sending the car down and himself with lance in his arms up towards the surface, his own lungs aching with the lack of oxygen. 

He pushed his limp boyfriend above him to the rest of the team to pull him out. Once he regained his breathe control he climbed out of the water just as Lance was laid down on the concrete. Keith stumbled his way over to wear another EMT was checking his boyfriend´s pulse.

Everyone at work had grown an appreciation for their over the top coworker over the years. Lance was just that guy that everyone was friends with, always loud and excited about the randomest things, but nobody had ever seen him so excited when he and keith started dating.

Lance helped Keith gain a much better relationship with everyone , making him feel that he was really part of a group for the first time. It was horrible for everyone to see him so quiet. The EMT looked up at Keith with a shocked expression, and everyone knew what it meant.

Keith gasped before he got down onto the ground to check for himself. His friend was right, no air escaped from his lips and not heart beat in his chest

¨H-hunk, we need to start CPR¨

keith said, cutting through the atmosphere with his icy voice. Hunk rushed to start charging up the defibrillators. Keith started counting as he pushed all his weight down onto Lance´s chest, over and over.He bent over and breathed through the cold lips he knew so well.Keith´s glare was intense as he focused on bringing Lance back.

He couldn't afford to cry though his body screamed for a break. His muscles aches in his efforts but he pushed on. Keith loved him, he loved Lance more than anything in the world, and losing him meant losing all of the time they had planned to spend together. 

2 minutes and 14 seconds, that's how long he tried to save Lance before hunk came over and pried him away. His team put Lance onto the stretcher and began resuscitation with the machines. Keith was pulled out of his daze and back into reality.

¨-eith, we have to go, come on, they need to get the water out of his lungs before they can start his heart.

¨right¨ keith responded,panting into hunk´s shoulder. He jumped into the back where Lance, his lance, was lying still and unmoving.


	2. Doctor Shiro has done it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith panics.

Keith held his hand the entire way back to the hospital.

The people around him were frantically trying to start lance´s heart once they had gotten some water out. 10 minutes and one second, that's how long it's been since he last heard his boyfriend´s voice. 

Keith´s body stayed rigid and cramped as he kneeled down next to him. His hand was so cold, colder than the water Keith had jumped in. Through the chaos going on around him, Keith never took his eyes off of Lance. 

He peered at his face like he was only sleeping. They shocked his body too many times to count, unwilling to give up on their friend. But keith didn't notice as the jolts were as loud as his own heart thundering in his chest.

As they got into the hospital, keith focused on remembering every smile Lance had ever cracked. The way his smirk would only rise on the left side of his face. How his nose sat small in comparison to the rest of him neatly on his face. How his eyes were so striking, milky blue, but still outshining the brightest lights. 

 

Everyone else had already left the ambulance, leaving keith staring wide eyed at his hand that was now empty. 

¨Keith¨

Hunk said, putting his arms on his shoulder. 

And Keith lost it. 

 

He couldn't breath, at all, every time he tried it was cold and unwelcoming. So he just stopped trying, holding onto the one thing he could feel.

His hand was aching with the absence of lance. It might have been cold but it was something. Something that was his.But it was gone. Lance was, gone.

¨KEITH¨ 

he heard Hunk yell in his ear. He knew that Hunk was yelling as loud as he could. And from memory he knows how loud that was. But it barely breached the surface of his mind.

He heard the splash, over and over. The way the water gulped Lance´s car up. The car they had their first date in, where they first kissed. He heard it, but then it was real. The water dripped down his face. He focused on one bead, one going down his spine. It reached his tailbone when he gasped. 

His vision was black. No wait, that was his fabric of his pants. 

¨Keith, I need you to calm down, your scaring me¨ 

It was Pidge. When did she get here. He was curled up on himself, clutching his stomach. He heard that was what hurt once you started running out of oxygen. His head was buzzing a sit shook. 

¨L-lance¨

he heard his voice say, but he didn't remember telling his mouth to talk.

¨I know, I know, but you need to calm down.¨ 

he heard Hunk say. So he tried, he got his breathing under control and slowly unhunched his shoulders. He could see the faces of his friends and his coworkers. One of them said

¨Keith, we are gonna get him back, we won't stop trying til we do¨

Keith nodded. 

 

And they did. Doctor Shirogane operated on him with an extremely temperamental method. It fought the infection in the lungs with direct contact. They got exactly two pulses until it had stopped and they rushed him on life support. Tubes and wires, that's what he was made of now. 

Keith was sitting in the break room when they told him lance was alive. 

¨How long?¨ 

he asked them. 

¨23 minutes and 14 seconds¨

they responded quietly before leaving. 23 minutes and 14 seconds that he spent thinking lance was dead. The worst 23 minutes and 14 seconds of his life. 

He saw Shiro coming in. 

¨I´m assuming they told you the good news¨ 

Shiro said brightly.Keith looked up to meet his eyes. He knew Shiro was disappointed in what he saw. He was clearly broken down.

¨yeah, I know¨

he responded solemnly. 

¨I thought you would be a little bit relieved¨ 

Shiro said. 

¨shiro, I´m not 8, I know how low the chances are he will even remember his name, let alone me. He might be alive, but that doesn't mean everything's okay, it will never be okay again.¨ 

¨Keith-¨ 

shiro tried to say

¨Shiro, I had to watch him die. I saw the way his eyes were glazed over, I felt how still his heart was, I had to do fucking CPR that didn't work, I had to sit in that ambulance holding his goddamn hands that were too cold to be his. I had to live through thinking the love of my life was dead. I had to deal with the guilt, knowing that if I hadn't called him he wouldn't have died. That if I was faster he might end up okay Do you know how that feels?¨

Keith yelled his composure crumbling. 

¨You know I do¨

Shiro said sternly. Oh god. He forgot Adam. 

¨Shiro, I´m sorry-¨

Keith began.

¨No, I understand. I know how hard it is, and I know how stressed you are right now. But at least he survived. There is a chance that everything will work itself at. And I won't let you ruin the chance I didn't get.¨

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Winter break has begun. I will be finishing this piece by the new year. As always, I promise a somewhat happy ending.


	3. Poor keith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura is a nice lady

Shiro sat next to Keith before he was called to another case. But keith was not left alone. Pidge would come and stop by, providing him with vending machine snacks that he barely ate. Hunk sat with him, rubbing his shoulder´s soothingly.

Nobody expected him to work for the rest of his shift. Even the head of the department stopped by to tell Keith to go home early

¨Pidge, I don´t want anymore Fritos¨ Keith said when he heard the fast footsteps coming towards him 

¨Actually, Fritos are one of the most healthy chips out there, I think you would benefit from some nutrients¨said Allura

¨Oh, I´m sorry, thought you were Pidge¨ Keith replied, slumping back in his chair

¨Keith I can´t even ....begin to comprehend what you are feeling right now. but I want you to process this in private. You deserve as much¨ she started in her telltale accent. With a slight pause she continued

¨I want you to go home for a two weeks, I want you to get some rest, and I want you to cry this out. I want you to visit Lance every day and spill you emotions out with nobody there to interrupt you. After that I want you to come back and start working in the emergency room instead of dispatch so you don´t put yourself at risk. Depending on how Lance is, I will move you back to your original position. And when, not if, Lance wakes up, I will give you another three weeks to take care of him and appreciate that he is alive and well¨ 

Keith stared at her, tears building up in his eyes. He stood up and slowly walked over to her. He melted into the hug and let himself relax for the first time that day. 

¨thank you¨he said meekly, voice cracking under the heaviness of her words. 

¨Your welcome Keith, not go home,and for quiznack´s sake please eat at least some of the Fritos Pidge has piled up next to you. ¨ Keith let himself chuckle, and promised her he would.

So Keith went home, driving his car that only brought his trauma back to life. Every time he sped up he imagined how Lance had felt. God, what had Lance felt. Did he feel the moment when his lungs gave in and swallowed the water?Did he feel when his heart had stopped beating in his chest? Did he feel the desperation in which Keith had tried and failed to saved him? A car honked at Keith as his attention was pulled back to the road ahead. 

He parked his car, swinging the door too hard like a reflex. He would have to work on that eventually. He opened the door, once again slamming it closed. He put his keys on the counter as he usually did. He took his scrubs off and threw them on the floor, like he did every night. He collapsed on the couch, as was normal after a hard day of work. bu what was so glaringly missing was the absence of lance trying to steal his keys, and then kisses. Lance encouraging him flirtatiously to keep going stripping off his outer layer. Lance pulling him into a cuddle session and watching TV together. 

It was so different. Too daunting and scary that he pushed his longing aside and suppressed his loneliness. He fell asleep right after closing his eyes, his body and mind both too tired to even drift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so I may have forgotten about this.....sry? I am a stressed and depressed kid who needs some rest


End file.
